Tom Keely's reputation is in ruins.
And that's the upside.
Divorced and unemployed, he's lost faith in everything precious to him. Holed up in a grim highrise, cultivating his newfound isolation, Keely looks down at a society from which he's retired hurt and angry. He's done fighting the good fight, and well past caring.
But even in his seedy flat, ducking the neighbours, he's not safe from entanglement. All it takes is an awkward encounter in the lobby. A woman from his past, a boy the likes of which he's never met before. Two strangers leading a life beyond his experience and into whose orbit he falls despite himself.
What follows is a heart-stopping, groundbreaking novel for our times – funny, confronting, exhilarating and haunting. Inhabited by unforgettable characters, Eyrie asks how, in an impossibly compromised world, we can ever hope to do the right thing.
Eyrie
Divorced, drunk and disillusioned, Tom Keely is doing his best to distance himself from everyone and everything. From the top of his lofty perch a monstrous Fremantle highrise he see nothing but misery and destruction, a wasteland of modern greed. Here enters Gemma and Kai, desperately in need of his help they pull Tom kicking and screaming out of his self destructive spiral into oblivion. Once again, Keely has a purpose, something to live for, as he clumsily attempts to save Gemma and Kai from impending danger. Fast paced, tense and unforgettable, Tim Winton has returned masterful as ever, exploring the bleak underbelly of modern Australia. Eyrie defiantly has a darkness, a futility to it that feels different from Winton's previous novels, though it maintains a beauty to it, that has made Winton one of Australia's best and favourite authors. As reviewed by 08sv
Toombul, 28/07/2014